Tom Crean
4 Maps Of Infinite Possibility
© 2005 Tom Crean (628740780121)
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An exploration of the possibilities of solo guitar and infinity through improvisation.
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4 MAPS OF INFINITE POSSIBILITY
In trying to define the concept of my music, I am compelled to take a whole experience and condense it into a singular statement that, in theory, encompasses the entire thought process behind my work. I do not believe this can be done, for nothing is truly that simple, yet I will make an attempt.
My purpose is to create a music exploring the undefined in the most direct way possible by attempting the impossible or infinite. The realization of what is not defined or possible in effect, creates new possibilities and new undefined or infinite areas to be explored. In my work I have attempted to define this as the "Infinite Variables", which in my system symbolize these attempts at unknown propositions. The "variables" are defined by the scientific terms "mass", "time", "space". These variables can be both infinitely large and infinitely small taking into account the reality of infinity where things are both infinite large and small.
While exploring these "Infinite Variables" I do not intend to create a music that cannot be heard or is too loud to hear. The point of these propositions is to try something that cannot be done in order to put oneself in a new area of exploration. In the end these are devices of not only the listener but also of the performer.
The previous artistic statement, while accurate, is still incomplete. Since I finished my M.A. work at Wesleyan University, I have taken a path I could not have predicted on graduation day. Examining my music after graduation, I felt it had become had become too academic. While I felt my work represented me, I did not believe it took into account the totality of my musical life. So I had to go back to the drawing board and re-discover myself.
At this same point I also felt that my guitar playing had lagged and fell far beyond my composition skills. I needed to set up a proposition that would allow me to satisfy the following goals:
1. To improve my improvisation skills to encompass my composition style.
2. To make my ideological goals reflect my reality
3. To explore the "Infinite Variables" outside of academics
5. To have fun again with my music
To move toward fulfilling these goals I started my Guitar Journal on August 3, 2004, which continues to this day with no definite end planned. It is similar to most journals as there are entries, however all my entries consist of me playing guitar instead of writing. Thus far I believe this journal has totally changed the way I play guitar and compose. I feel I have begun to satisfy my objectives. It is currently podcast and listed in itunes and other major podcast directories. The home page is http://crean.lost-angel.com/journal-2
This record is the result of my first year of work on this project. The composition "4 maps of Infinite Possibility" is an exploration of Infinite Variables in a way that allows the improvisor to explore the unknown and have some fun. The music also shows many of the new aspects of my work adopted in the past year:
1. Multi-Instrumental guitar playing (switching from guitar to guitar as a way to create new timbral possibilities.)
2. An accounting of my entire musical interests: jazz, classical, electronic, rock, blues, etc.
3. An approach to solo guitar inspired by the solo musics of Bach, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Joe Pass, Anthony Braxton, and John Cage.
4. Exploring ideological implications of my work in a fun way (after all what is music about...we all want to have some fun no matter what our role is as listener, performer, and composer.)
Each portion of the score of "4 maps of Infinite Possibility" consist of two pages, one containing an infinite zoom in and an infinite zoom out. To sum up the position of each piece:
I is an exploration of continuity symbolized by lines with no definite beginning and end.
II is an exploration of stasis symbolized by formation constructed by straight lines.
III is an exploration of variation in linear formations symbolized by line formation with curves with defined beginning and ends.
IV is an exploration of mass formation symbolized by all the previous formations in a combinatorial manor.
I feel that by further explaining the composition, it will lose its intended ambiguity for the performer and listener. So I hope you enjoy this cd as much as I do.
Tom Crean
October 2005
This CD is dedicated to:
-Anthony for all the support, music, and friendship I have received over the past 4 years. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
-and my Katie whose support and love has made me a better person.....
Tom Crean - Guitars
Recorded October 2, 2005 by Tom Crean
Mixed by Tom Crean
Mastered by Alan Veniscofsky and Tom Crean
About:
Tom Crean was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1979 where he currently resides. He attended the Hartt School of Music, where in 2002 he was awarded a B.M in Music Management with a concentration in Jazz Guitar. Tom then went on to study at Wesleyan University where he studied with Anthony Braxton, Ron Kuivila, Alvin Lucier and Neely Bruce and received a MA in Composition in 2004. Currently he has a studio of 50 guitar students.
Tom has played a large variety of music as a performer ranging from rock to jazz to avant-garde. Some of the people he has performed with include Anthony Braxton, John Sinclair, Craig Shepard, Chris Dahlgren, Rane, and Kevin O’Neil. As a composer, Tom’s music has been performed by Anthony Braxton, The Flux String Quartet, Kevin Norton, Neely Bruce, and The Wesleyan University Orchestra.
Tom’s recent artistic activities include video game development, an online guitar journal(which is listed in the iTunes Music Store), video pieces, and work with interactive electronics. Recent recordings include a duo with Anthony Braxton (unreleased) and the a solo guitar record to be released on Tom's website. He is also a member of Mr. Braxton's Diamond Curtain Wall Music Trio with performances this year in Portugal, Scotland, and Paris.